Quick Facts
Sympathetic Contribution: Superficial and deep cardiac plexus.
Parasympathetic Contribution: Superficial and deep cardiac plexus.
Course: Follows the right coronary artery to the anterior surface of the right side of the heart.
Sympathetic Supply: Increases heart rate, cardiac impulse conduction, and force of myocardial contraction, dilates coronary arteries.
Parasympathetic Supply: Decreases heart rate and force of myocardial contraction.
Contributing Nerves
The right coronary plexus is formed by cardiac branches that extend from both the deep and superficial cardiac plexuses, with larger contributions from the superficial cardiac plexus (Standring, 2016).
Course
The right coronary plexus runs anteriorly to the anterior surface of the heart, then inferiorly. It follows the right coronary artery between the right atrium and right ventricle (Standring, 2016).
Branches
The right coronary plexus has no named branches. Fibers leave the plexus to innervate surrounding cardiac tissue.
Supplied Structures & Function
The right coronary plexus provides both sympathetic and parasympathetic innervation to the heart, particularly the right side of the heart. Both types of nerve fibers pass from the plexus into the cardiac tissue by following the right coronary artery and its branches.
The sympathetic fibers lead to dilation of coronary arteries and increased rate and force of cardiac myofiber contraction. Parasympathetic fibers do the opposite, constricting coronary arteries and reducing heart rate.
Visceral sensory fibers traveling through the right coronary plexus convey information relating to pain, blood pressure, and blood chemistry back to the central nervous system.
List of Clinical Correlates
—Referred pain
References
Standring, S. (2016) Gray's Anatomy: The Anatomical Basis of Clinical Practice. Gray's Anatomy Series: Elsevier Limited.
